Santuri East Africa announces launch of Kilele summit

The event, hosted in collaboration with Études for Live-Electronics team from the Department of Music Acoustics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (the mdw), with support from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the Goethe Institut Kenya, aims to open up new discourse around music and technology in the region.

“Kilele is a dynamic, week-long exploration of the synergy between music, technology and innovation, promising an exciting blend of workshops, concerts, live performances, networking opportunities, and presentations,” the organisers said. “This inaugural event will convene East Africa’s visionary music creatives and collectives, facilitating exchanges with global music technology companies, platforms, and thought leaders.”

Kenyan and Kenya-based artists are already confirmed for the event including KMRU, Nyokabi Kariũki, Labdi Ommes, Monrhea Carter, Astrid Bin, Bernt Isak Wærstad and Alex Hofmann. Additional international and regional artists, organisations and platforms are set to announce their participation.

Speaking about the essence of Kilele, Santuri co-founder and director of sustainability Gregg Mwendwa said: “Kilele will provide an essential platform that brings global players in music technology and progressive music education together with the vibrant creative scenes we have been working within East Africa for over the last decade. Our aim is to create a space for meaningful exchange, driving growth and opportunities for East African artists on the global stage”.

The announcement of Santuri’s selection as the 2023 laureate of the Music Rights Award, presented by the International Music Council (IMC) to organisations that align with the five music rights as defined by the IMC and inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. A representative from Santuri will receive the award at the Visa For Music conference in Rabat, Morocco, on 22 November.

Since its inception in 2014, Santuri has been conducting training courses for music producers and DJs, as well as connecting artists from the East African region with various global opportunities. In 2021, the organisation opened SEMA – the Santuri Electronic Music Academy – which has since trained over 170 artists in music production and DJ skills, with 55% of them being female.

The Department of Music Acoustics is a transdisciplinary research institute at the mdw, dedicated to music acoustics, performance science, and musician-specific questions on musical instruments, playing techniques and performance style. Études for Live-electronics is a FWF-funded artistic research project by Alex Hofmann hosted at the Department of Music Acoustics.

More information about Kilele can be found here.